Bob Jungels had multiple reasons to celebrate on Sunday in the Tour de France when the Luxembourg-born rider soloed across the finish line, and fending off as formidable a rival as Thibaut Pinot was arguably the least of them.
The 29-year-old AG2R Citroën rider pointed out in his winner’s press conference, more than thinking about anything in particular in the final metres of Sunday’s tough mountain trek through Switzerland and back over the first-category Pas de Morgins climb into France, his overwhelming feeling was one of relief.
That was because as Jungels related in a lengthy and moving interview last year with Cyclingnews, a longstanding case of arterial endofibrosis, finally diagnosed in 2021 but which had begun at least one season before, had threatened irreparable damage to his career.
But this year, the former Liège-Bastogne-Liege winner and Giro d’Italia leader was, at long last, able to regain his previous top condition, and scored a notable victory for AG2R Citröen, based in the nearby city of Grenoble after a spectacularly long solo break.
“For sure I was thinking I might not make it back to this level,” Jungels, part of a 21-rider break before taking off along some 60 kilometres from the line, told reporters.
“Last year we finally found the source of the problem when I had surgery, so I started with a lot of motivation this season, hoping I would get back.
“But it took a long time to recover, and since the last couple of weeks I’ve been grateful I had that faith in myself. But it’s certainly been a real rollercoaster of emotions.”
Just 22 seconds on Jonathan Castroviejo (Ineos Grenadiers) at the finish after the Spaniard overtook Jungels most-tenacious pursuer, Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), Jungels said it had been a tense but thrilling finale.
“As always in a break, you don’t really believe you’re going to make it until you cross the line, but it was quite exciting with Pinot coming back, and a very hard finish up here in Châtel.
“To be honest, I was not thinking about much, it’s just such a relief after so many frustrating months and years.”
Quite apart from Pinot, Sunday’s climbing challenges and the long battle against arterial endofibrosis, Jungels also had to handle what he called “a slight positive test” for COVID-19 just days before the Tour de France. He was finally cleared to race the following day, but it was touch and go.
“It was very, very close, I believe and came a bit out of nowhere, but luckily I made it,” he recounted, before…
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